One of our loyal readers has sent us what may very well be the best spaghetti recipe on this planet, here it is in total:
OK, I make some of the best spaghetti on the planet from scratch,
and it doesn't even take long.
INGREDIENTS:
Two or three pounds of hamburger (or if you'd rather, crumbled Italian Sausage, my favorite)
One nice-sized wedge of Romano cheese (NOT Parmesan)
One large or two small yellow onions, chopped
One green or red pepper (your choice), chopped
Two big cans of tomato puree
One big can of diced tomatoes (or whole tomatoes which you then cut up)
about 3/4 cup sugar
Palmful of salt (not the entire palm, but the center of it, and not too high, about two tablespoons I guess)
three or four nice-sized garlic cloves
Basil - Thyme - Rosemary - Oregano
DIRECTIONS:
OK, brown your hamburger or sausage. If you don't know how to do that, kill yourself. When the hamburger or sausage is half cooked, drain grease (but not ALL of it), then put in garlic, onions, and pepper and saute for a bit. Sprinkle all seasonings on top of cooking hamburger, that is the basil, oregano, thyme, and rosemary (note: not too much oregano, contrary to popular belief, just a pinch or so - lots of basil (this will be your main seasoning, it smells a bit like tea) - modest amounts of thyme, and a bit less of rosemary, although add all seasonings to your taste)
Add all tomato stuff, puree and diced. If not enough sauce, add an additional can of diced tomatoes. Ontop of the sauce, sprinkle more of all four seasonings, making sure not to add too much oregano (if you do this, it will ruin the flavor of your sauce - you can afford to add a bit too much of the other three). One way to tell how much to add, is you want to add each spice individually liberally covering the top of the sauce (peppered covered, I mean, not solid). Mix that spice into the sauce, then add the next one the same way. Do this for everything BUT the Oregano and Rosemary. Just a pinch of Oregano, and about three pinches of Rosemary.
Cook sauce for a bit, about ten minutes or so. You want to see pieces of all the seasonings in all parts of the sauce, some in every spoonful. Add salt and sugar. If you have some garlic powder, you can throw a bit in, but not too much. It just depends on how the sauce tastes.
After the sauce is bubbling and has been cooking awhile, grate half of the wedge of Romano cheese and add it to the sauce slowly. You want to avoid a big glop of cheese sitting in the middle. Stir in cheese well.
Cook for a bit, about another half hour or longer, depending on how long you would like to simmer it. It can be simmered quite a while, but check to make sure you don't burn your sauce at the bottom.
VERY IMPORTANT: Taste your sauce in all processes. Your taste will tell you what to do. This is probably the most important skill a cook can aquire. This sauce will taste excellent right away, but will be even better the next day when all the spices fuse with it.
Hope you like it.
Roary
Albuquerque, NM
ferretphilosophy.blogspot.com
Above you see pictured one of our many meals prepared at the FP Times World Test Kitchen Headquarters - which is actually located 2000 feet below the earth. Here we took chicken tenders from Albertson's and sliced them up over a nice bed of lettuce and topped with ranch dressing. The bread on the side is called "Texas Toast" and is a cheesy oven baked bread. Everyone here on the staff tried a sample and think we have stumbled upon an easy, affordable home-made meal that you can have pride in making and eating. Challenge: meet it or beat it - what you got? Send me your JPG's or post your comments below.
